Sleepover
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: Simple little fic in which young Ben sleeps over at Poe's house.


AN: Everyone knows I don't own Star Wars. This was written for a friend who headcanons that Ben and Poe were friends when they were children (which is plausible, since the comics reveal that both of Poe's parents fought in the Rebellion).

"Sleepover"

By EsmeAmelia

"Hey Ben!"

Ten-year-old Poe grinned at his younger friend the instant he opened the door to his family's house on Yavin 4. "Come on in," he said. "Come on in!" He took Ben's hand and led him into the living room, nearly causing Ben to drop his bag.

"Okay, okay," Ben laughed, tossing his bag on the couch and grinning at his friend.

"So what do you wanna do first? We could watch a holo, or play a hologame, or have a snack, or go play outside . . ."

"_Poe!"_ came an adult voice from the doorway. Both boys turned to see Poe's father, Kes Dameron, giving them a knowing grin, his brown eyes gleaming. "Don't overwhelm your friend, son."

"It's okay, Mr. Dameron," said Ben. "He's not overwhelmin' me."

"Okay," said Kes, entering the room and getting on his knees, spreading out his arms, "but don't I at least get a hug before you start your fun?"

Ben giggled. "Of course, Mr. Dameron." He ran up to the man and threw his arms around him, giving his stubbled, scratchy cheek a kiss as he wrapped his big arms around Ben. Kes gave great hugs, though they weren't as good as Han's, of course. Han gave the best Dad hugs in the entire galaxy.

Han's Dad hugs could even help with his nightmares.

With that thought, Ben found himself gulping a bit. Han wasn't here to give his Dad hugs and Leia wasn't here to give her Mom hugs.

What would he do if he had a nightmare tonight?

. . .

The boys did indeed spend the evening playing outside, playing hologames, watching holos, and enjoying snacks. It was well past midnight when Kes finally told the boys that they had to go to bed, but they were exhausted enough by then that they didn't protest too much.

The friends lay next to each other in Poe's bed, the moonlight shining through the window. Poe had wanted to chat with his friend in the dark, but he could feel his eyelids drooping. "Night, Ben," he murmured with a yawn.

"Night." Ben's voice, however, was small, hesitant, almost _frightened._

Though Poe's body just wanted to sink down into the bed and drift off to sleep, he forced himself to open his eyes to Ben's silhouette. "Ben, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ben said in the kind of voice that indicated something was _definitely _wrong.

"Really?" asked Poe. "Come on Ben, I know you better than that."

"No, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

There was a sniffle which neither of them could ignore. Poe quickly reached over to the tissue box on the nightstand, yanked out a handful of tissues, and handed them to Ben. "Here, here, it's okay."

Ben blew his nose, but gave no other reply.

"Hey," Poe persisted. "Are you homesick? That's okay to be homesick. I get homesick sometimes too."

Ben sniffled again. "I _do_ miss Mom and Dad, but . . . it's something else."

"What?" Poe tried to make his voice as gentle as possible.

Ben swallowed loudly. "I can't tell you."

"Why not? I won't tell anyone else."

"No, I _can't_ tell you!"

"All right, all right," said Poe, reaching over and stroking his friend's cheek. "Say, I've still got my old nightlight – would you like me to get it?"

Ben gulped again. "Nightlights are for babies," he said quietly, as if he were echoing something he'd heard in school. It had to have been at school – Poe knew Han and Leia would never tell him something like that.

"No they're not," Poe said in a calm voice. "Look, I'll go get it."

Ben didn't say yes, but he didn't give any further protests either, which was enough for Poe to get out of bed, head to the closet, and dig out his nightlight. It was shaped like a miniature lightsaber and gave a blue glow when Poe plugged it in. "See? Cool, isn't it?"

Ben gave a bit of a smile in the soft blue glow. "Yeah, it's cool."

Poe smiled back as he climbed back into bed. "Kay, think you can sleep now?"

"Yeah."

"All right." Once more Poe let his head sink down into the pillow and his eyelids drooped. Though the nightlight irritated his eyes a bit, he'd put up for his friend's sake.

. . .

"NO! NO! STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The screams jolted Poe awake. His eyes shot open to Ben crying out in his sleep, the blue light illuminating his face. "No, no, NO! STOP! NO!"

"Ben?" Poe asked, touching his friend's tear-drenched face. "Ben, what's going on?"

Ben only screamed again.

"Ben, come on!" Poe yelled, grabbing Ben's shoulder and shaking it. "You're having a bad dream, wake up!"

It took several good shakes, but finally Ben opened his eyes and the screaming subsided. He blinked rapidly, as if unsure where he was.

"Ben?" Poe repeated. "Are you okay?"

Ben just kept blinking at him.

Poe ran his fingers through Ben's hair. "Ben, it's okay, you're awake now. It was just a bad dream."

"N-no," Ben's voice was soft and scratchy. "I-it's _not_ okay!"

Now Poe wrapped his arms around the younger boy, gathering him into a hug. "Don't worry, I'm here. What did you dream about?"

Instead of answering, Ben just sobbed on Poe's shoulder for what seemed to be several minutes before he gulped and said, "I want Mom and Dad."

"All right," said Poe, squeezing his friend harder. "Let's comm them."

"They'll be sleeping."

Poe pulled out of the embrace to look into Ben's eyes. "Come on, they won't mind waking up to talk to you. Wait here while I get the comm."

. . .

Han's hologram answered the comm in his pajamas, his hair mussed up, yawning. "Hey guys," he mumbled. "How's the sleepover goin'?"

Ben just gulped, trembling as he stared at his father, which seemed to silently communicate what was going on.

"Nightmare?" Han asked.

Ben only nodded as Poe again wrapped his arm around him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Han asked, his eyes full of compassion and making Poe wonder how often this happened. What could he say that would make things better?

Ben shook his head. "I'm sorry we woke you up."

"Hey, hey," said Han, reaching out his hand as if Ben could take it, "don't talk like that. You know your mom and I are always here for you when you get nightmares." He gave a gentle, fatherly smile. "You wanna talk to Mom?"

Ben rubbed his eyes. "Kay."

In a few moments, there was Leia's hologram, her robe hastily thrown over her pajamas, her hair also mussed. "Ben, sweetheart, are you all right?"

Ben sniffled, brushing his finger under his nose. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Ben, there's nothing to be sorry about," Leia said as Han's hologram reappeared next to her.

"Yeah, son," said Han. "Everyone gets nightmares."

"But I _ruined the sleepover!"_

Poe's stomach jumped a little. "Ben, come on, you didn't ruin the sleepover."

"Yeah I did," said Ben, burying his face in his hands. "This was s'posed to be _fun."_

"And we've had _lots_ of fun," said Poe, gathering his friend into his arms. "Ben, there's _nothing wrong_ with having a nightmare. I get nightmares too."

"Not like this," Ben muttered.

The holograms of both Han and Leia had troubled expressions on their faces, as if they wished they could just instantly transport themselves over to Yavin 4 to comfort their son.

That gave Poe an idea.

"Hey, Mr. Solo and Mrs. Organa?" Poe asked.

"Yes?" replied Leia.

"Would you mind takin' the comm to bed with you and not hanging up? That way, it'd be like we were all having a big sleepover together."

Han looked his son in the eyes. "Would you like us to do that, Ben?"

Ben gave a small nod. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Then let's do it," said Leia.

Five minutes later, Poe and Ben were curled up in bed again and the comm on the nightstand showed the holograms of Han and Leia curled up in their own bed.

"Good night, son," said Han, grinning as he sank his head into the pillow.

"Night," said Ben.

"And remember, we're right here if you have another nightmare," said Leia.

"Thanks." Now Ben was actually smiling in the blue light. "Love you guys."

"We love you too," said Han.

Poe smiled at his friend, who finally looked content. "Hey, I'm here for you too."

"Yeah," said Ben, his eyes drifting closed. "Thanks, this was a great idea."

"No problem."

Though the light still irritated his eyes, it didn't take Poe long to drift off to sleep. He still didn't know what Ben dreamed about, but now he was confident that his friend would have a good night's sleep – at least for tonight.

THE END


End file.
